August 1938: Spectators clapping Australian cricketer Sir Don Bradman (1908 - 2001) as he comes out during the 4th Test Match at Headingley, Leeds. Sir Donald Bradman was the first cricketer to be knighted in 1949 for his services to cricket. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
August 27 marks Sir Donald Bradman's birthday. The greatest cricketer the world has ever seen, the story of 'The Don' is well known and won't ever be repeated.
Finishing with a career average of 99.94, a devastating four runs short of the magical three-figure average, Bradman has never come close to being eclipsed on the batting front.
Born in 1908, the first cricketer to be knighted for his services to the sport of cricket was famous for practicing with a stump and a golf ball growing up.
Living and breathing cricket, he would go on to play 52 Tests for Australia, scoring almost 7,000 runs in a staggeringly short period of time, scoring 29 Test centuries, and passing 50 runs on a further 13 occasions.
What may have been even more impressive was that in an era of uncovered wickets and horrendous conditions to bat in, plus less protective equipment and far less superior cricket equipment, Bradman was consistent over an incredible period of time.
He also played 234 first-class cricket matches, averaging 95.14 and scoring 117 tons with a high score of 452 not out.
He will never be eclipsed in the world of cricket. Some have tried. Some have even been labeled "the next Bradman." But it is impossible.
It goes without saying that there are going to be plenty of standout moments for the greatest cricket that ever lived, but what are the five best?
Bradman took time to become acclimatised to Test cricket, which makes the remarkable career-end average all the more incredible.
It didn't look all that good when he was selected for his debut in the Brisbane Test of the 1928-1929 summer and failed in both innings of the first Test match against England.
Australia's old enemy had the man who would go on to become the greatest of all time in all sorts of trouble, dismissed for 18 and 1 in the two innings.
England won that Test by a staggering 675 runs, compiling 521 and 342 against Australia's measly 122 and 66. Bradman was dropped for the second Test in his home state of New South Wales, as England was forced to chase down a paltry 15 for victory on the final day of the match.
It was then that Bradman was recalled, and while he couldn't guide Australia to their first win of the summer, Bradman's first Test in Victoria was a success.
He showed his class in the first innings with 79, but then turned that into a century in the second innings, scoring 112 from number six in the order, batting for a large chunk of time alongside opener Bill Woodfull who managed 107.
Australia didn't manage a victory as England comfortably chased down 332, but from a position of 4-0 down in the series, the hosts would bounce back to win the fifth match of the summer by five wickets, a match that saw Donald Bradman score his second Test century.
Donald Bradman is rightly remembered for his incredible run against England, who he played most of his career against. In fact, he played just 15 Tests against teams that weren't England.
These came in the form of a five-Test match series in 1930-31 against the West Indies, a five-Test match series against South Africa the following year, and his final home campaign in 1947-48 against India, another five-Test series.
It was here that he would give Australian fans one final reminder of how good he was, heading to his adopted home at the Adelaide Oval and blasting a century as Australia wiped India out of the series.
His double-century came on the back of three earlier tons in the series, with Bradman ending the first innings on 201 and not having to bat again in the second.
In fact, Bradman was only required to bat once in a second innings that entire summer but still managed a ludicrous 715 runs overall.
Australia would compile a mammoth 674 in their first innings, with Bradman joined by further centurions in Lindsay Hassett and Sid Barnes. The 'Invincibles' tour to England would follow later that year.
Ah yes, the 'Invincibles.' It had to be on this list. Donald Bradman, at the age of 40, led an Australian team for his fourth and final tour of England. Back in those days, tours were proper events. Five Tests, plus a mountain of lead-up and tour games.
Australia played a total of 34 matches on this particular tour, and - with Bradman retiring from Test cricket - it inevitably meant his final century would come as he attempted to end with the magical 100 average.
While we all know the story of how he fell short in that pursuit, his final Test match century came in the innings prior, at Leeds, as he smacked 173 not out.
Incredibly, at the age of 40, it was Don Bradman's second hundred for the series, but this was an amazing knock. In the second innings, on a tough wicket, he batted gloriously alongside Arthur Morris, who ended up with 182 himself, as Australia chased down 404 for the loss of just three wickets, in what was an incredible victory.
Bodyline. It had to feature.
One of the more infamous events in cricketing history, but also now responsible for the laws of cricket we see today, restricting bowlers from dangerous or intimidatory bowling, as well as limiting how many fielders can be placed on the leg-side of the wicket.
As controversial as that tour was in 1932-33, Bradman still managed to peel off a century during the Melbourne Test, in one of the gutsiest efforts you're ever likely to see in cricket.
He ended with 103 not out in the second innings, after being held to a rare duck in the first innings. This century was ultimately the difference between the two sides in a very low-scoring match.
Bradman's 103* was from just 191 deliveries in the second innings as his teammates fell around him before the tourists fell apart for just 139 in pursuit of 251 for victory.
Don Bradman had a lot of good batting days in his career. The bad ones were few and very far between. But how can you go past a triple century (300 runs) in a single day as the greatest of all?
It's the 11th of July, 1930.
Donald Bradman is coming off a double-century in just his second Test on English soil and has been called to the crease after just 11 deliveries following the wicket of Archie Jackson.
By the time stumps rolls around, Bradman is 309 not out. He is still the only batsman in Test match history to score 300 or more runs in a single day's play.
He scored those 309 runs out of a team total of just 458, before eventually being dismissed the next morning for 334, his highest ever Test match score.
The record would stand for decades before Australia's Matthew Hayden eventually blasted 380 against Zimbabwe to pass the milestone, but there is little doubt that this single day is the greatest moment of the greatest ever cricketer's career.